Deals of the Day: Debt Vote Down to Wire

Deals of the Day gathers all the biggest news of the morning related to mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, financing and private equity. Deal Journal’s homepage is http://blogs.wsj.com/deals. You can see real-time updates of our posts and our favorite deal-related articles on other Web sites through our Twitter feed, @WSJDealJournal.

Credit Ceiling

The House was headed for a cliffhanger vote on a revised debt plan from Boehner that could go a long way in determining if the U.S.’s borrowing limit is raised in time to avoid a default. [WSJ]

Repo market: The debt stalemate in Washington is creating stress in a little-known but vital corner of the bond market, increasing the risk that banks, hedge funds and other investors will have to pay billions of dollars in additional costs if the U.S. defaults or is downgraded. [WSJ]

Related: U.S. banks searching for hints of credit-market distress ahead of next week’s deadline to raise the debt ceiling are finding few signs of panic so far. [Bloomberg]

CDSs: The cost of buying insurance against a default by the U.S. rose to a record on Wednesday, in a sign of growing unease that gridlock in Washington over raising the federal debt ceiling may result in the Treasury failing to pay interest to bondholders. [FT.com]

Europe

Hedging tool loses its edge: Banks and investors relying on credit-default swaps to protect themselves against a European government reneging on its debt payments suddenly are finding that the insurance isn’t such a sure thing after all. [WSJ]

Mergers & Acquisitions

Emdeon: Private-equity firm Blackstone Group is in advanced discussions to buy Emdeon, a provider of software and technology services to the health-care industry, for more than $3 billion including debt. [WSJ]

Comcast-GE…Not so fast: A federal judge threatened to hold up court approval of the merger of Comcast and General Electric’s former NBCUniversal unit, criticizing the administration’s antitrust settlement that allowed the merger. [WSJ]

Pfizer: The drug company is leaning toward a spinoff of its animal health business, viewing a sale as less compelling because of a potentially heavy tax bill and antitrust scrutiny. [WSJ]

BSkyB: British Sky Broadcasting Group is likely to announce a share buyback of as much as £1 billion Friday, as the U.K. satellite-television operator retools itself after the collapse of News Corp.’s bid to buy the rest of the company. [WSJ]

Related: James Murdoch is poised to stay on as chairman of BSkyB. [Bloomberg]

First Coal Corporation: Miner Xstrata has made an all-cash bid for privately held Canadian miner First Coal Corporation, with an offer valuing the firm at $153 million. [Reuters]

Financial Institutions

Credit Suisse: The Swiss will cut 4% of its workforce to slash spending after profit dropped by more than half due to the strong Swiss franc and a trading slump. [WSJ]

Legal & Regulatory

UBS: The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sued UBS, accusing the investment bank of costing the two mortgage giants at least $900 million by selling them shaky mortgage-backed securities. [WSJ]

Buyside

Capital Markets

Not all Chinese ADRs Created Equal: Recent accounting blowups have forced investors to rethink Chinese stocks. But there is another risk hiding in plain sight: poor disclosure. [Heard on the Street]

Dunkin’ Donuts: Dunkin’ Brands rallied 47% in its first day of trading, indicating that investors’ appetite for public offerings isn’t limited to tech stocks. [WSJ]

Related: Doughnut purveyor Dunkin’ Brands Group pulled off an IPO debut reminiscent of a tech firm like LinkedIn. [Heard on the Street]

Companies & Industries

Groupon: The company has attracted scrutiny from regulators over a newfangled accounting metric it is using to market itself to investors ahead of its IPO. [WSJ]

People & Players

Jim Mulva: In the last decade, ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva achieved a feat with few equals in modern U.S. corporate history: creating a new oil major, almost from scratch. Now, as he prepares to retire, Mr. Mulva is presiding over the disintegration of his signature achievement. [WSJ]

Thanks for reading Deal Journal. We would like to direct you to MoneyBeat, the Wall Street Journal’s brand new global blog. MoneyBeat unites MarketBeat, The Source, Overheard and all the Deal Journal blogs, bringing together all the market, M&A, IPO and hedge-fund news from those blogs into a 24-hour hub for finance news. Check it out and let us know what you think at moneyblog@wsj.com.

About Deal Journal

Deal Journal is an up-to-the-minute take on the deals and deal makers that shape the landscape of Wall Street, including mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, private equity and bankruptcy. In short, wherever money changes hands. Deal Journal is updated throughout each trading day with exclusive commentary, analysis, data, news flashes and profiles. The Wall Street Journal’s David Benoit is the lead writer, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Send news items, comments and questions to deals@wsj.com.